Project launched to make London schools greener

With environmental concerns becoming an increasingly important issue across all industries and sectors, showing off your green credentials is a sure-fire way to appeal to the best talent out there.

So for those London schools that want to become more effective at filling vacancies for teaching jobs with individuals who are compassionate and care about the issues - values they can be encouraged to pass onto their students - improving their environmental performance could make all the difference.

While it can be difficult to cut a school's carbon footprint, especially if it is housed in old and energy-inefficient buildings, a new scheme has been launched that could help cover some of the costs.

Students on the University of East Anglia's (UEA) Strategic Carbon Management MBA developed the Green School Giving pilot project, which aims to see private-sector sponsorship from businesses used to fund green improvements in the capital's schools.

It is hoped that businesses will use the scheme as a means of demonstrating their corporate citizenship through social and ethical investment, while schools will be able to cut their emissions while also benefitting from cheaper energy bills.

Businesses, teachers and policy makers gathered in London today to launch the pilot, with the central message highlighted that enterprises can help schools deliver a 'high-quality, low-carbon' learning environment.

Nicholas Ceasar, one of the MBA students who helped develop the scheme, said that it will help "build a bridge with London's corporate community to help schools deliver a high quality low carbon learning environment for children, keep school running costs down, and meet our collective commitments on climate change".

He added: "It is paramount that learning facilities reflect and enable children to become sustainable citizens early on and complement their education on climate change."

The pilot project is being delivered with the help of Merton Council, in West London, which has already launched a solar photovoltaic programme to equip schools with panels generating renewable energy.

Councillor Andrew Judge said: "The project will help our schools save energy. If we can use this project to educate our children about practical ways to save energy, it will stand them in good stead for a green future."